21 vegetarian friendly restaurants in Manchester

Bundobust is a huge beer hall serving craft ales in the heart of Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens. It also happened to win Restaurant of the Year at the 2017 Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards, thanks to its stellar menu of Indian small plates.

Sitting in the old Dough Kitchen spot in the Northern Quarter, Purezza is yet another pizza restaurant for Manchester – but one with the distinction of offering solely vegan pizza and a menu that’s 96% gluten free. 

Everyone’s heard of NQ backstreet gaff This & That, even if they’ve not actually found it (it’s up the ginnel by Trof’s empty barrels) – renowned for its daily changing “rice and three” meal deal and winning vegan and vegetarian choices, it’s been an institution since 1984.

At Ruyi’s, you can expect traditional Chinese and Oriental cuisine and fusion food – the only difference is this traditional Chinese is all vegetarian, and most of the dishes are vegan to boot. Mock meat, soy-based substitutes and tofu plus veggies pure and simple are the USP here, for plant-based, guilt-free eating.

Mumbai to London Cafe doesn’t look like much from the outside (or the inside) but don’t let that fool you; there is some fantastic food to be found in this lowkey, licensed restaurant and takeaway in Droylsden.

The seeds of Matthew Nutter’s fine dining adventure were sown when he set out to “make veg taste better than steak”. And the menu at The Allotment Vegan Eatery exceeds this ambition.

Lily’s Indian Vegetarian Cuisine is an unassuming restaurant in Ashton-under-Lyne that happens to serve some of the best South Indian food in the UK.

Inspire Cafe is an inclusive, relaxed gem of a community cafe housed in a former church in Levenshulme. It serves breakfasts, light lunches, and homemade cake during the day, with occasional pop-ups from local street food traders (with local beers) in the evening.

The Little Yeti is one of the newest dining spots on Barlow Moor Rd, but from the well-oiled team behind Didsbury veterans Gurkha Grill. It’s an establishment of the ‘limited menu but executed very well’ variety, which is more common in Asia than over here, where ‘all things to all people’ is perhaps too often attempted.

An authentic Neapolitan-style pizzeria, Double Zero in Chorlton has been lauded as one of the best in the UK.

A stalwart of the Didsbury scene, Greens Vegetarian was way ahead of the game when they opened back in 1990. It was especially brave considering neither Simon Rimmer nor his partner Simon Connolly had worked in a kitchen before.

Trove Levenshulme has been going strong since 2011. The main draw is its fantastic bread, which forms the basis for its breakfast menu.

Caribbean vibes and Caribbean flavours are big at Pull Up at the top end of the Northern Quarter, where atmosphere and authenticity are key words and you will leave fit to burst, especially if you try tackling the famous Hench Box all on your lonesome.

Dishoom is a legend in its own lunchtime and that’s exactly how it likes things. It’s not enough to serve up top-notch Indian dishes in grand surroundings; there’s a story behind the menu too. But when the food is this good it doesn’t need to hide behind tall tales.

And the food is this good.

The menu is bursting with small plates arriving at the table as and when, plus biriyani, curry and grilled gubbins as well as all sorts of sides and sundries. If you’re part of a big group (or obscenely greedy) it’s possible and even preferable to order something from each section.

The new wave of burgers came crashing over the food scene and then receded, leaving closures and acid reflux. So surely it stands that those who remain are the best at what they do?

Grab a booth, take away – whatever you decide, getting stuck in is definitely on the cards with Don Tacos dishes. Homemade authentic Mexican meals that taste great every single time is the promise here and the menu is divided simply between “meats” and “vegetarian”.

Lebanese and Syrian restaurant Yara is not alone with its Cheadle outpost – equally popular branches can be sniffed out in Alderley Edge, Altrincham and Whitefield. Renowned for dishing up huge portions, there’s also now an order online option for finger-licking Middle Eastern fayre to your door.

The group of friends behind The Pasta Factory’s story originally hail from Turin in the northern region of Piedmont, so this is the place for authentic Italian food full of flavour, with dishes created from scratch using only the best fresh ingredients in season.

Salford independent the Treehouse Cafe is the sort of picture-perfect coffee house you frequently see on Instagram but rarely stumble upon on the streets of Broughton.